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Horse world

The Brooke team in Nepal has been given a CEVA animal welfare award for helping working horses, donkeys and mules in Nepal following 2015 earthquake.

It is a year since the first of several severe shocks hit Nepal, in the biggest earthquake the country in the last 80 years. In the aftermath, Brooke’s partner in the country, Animal Health Consultancy Training Service (AHTCS) helped trapped and terrified horses, donkeys and mules.

Dr Bidur Pakhrin, Executive Director of AHTCS said: “After the earthquake we heard that people and their animals in the districts where we were work were very badly affected, so we gathered a team together to work out what we could do.”

The team and local people helped clear roadways and save 150 horses, donkeys and mules that had been trapped up in the hills by landslides. In total, over 400 more animals were rescued. Plus, the team helped to provide 1,483 equines, and over 300 of their owners and handlers with relief materials such as grain and water. Free animal health camps were run, providing check-ups for 575 animals.

CEVA Animal Health UK gave their Special Recognition award to AHTCS and the Brooke. The judges at CEVA decided that the team should be recognised for their work, and added the award category specially for them.

Dr Bidur said “We are honoured to receive this award. Services available for the animals are minimal, so this provides a lot of our motivation. The economic benefits these animals bring to people are not properly recognised nationally, so there is more work to be done for us here in Nepal. We are striving for a good welfare status for the working equines. It’s an opportunity and a challenge.”